“We have a lot of territory to cover,” said Seawolf. “White Knight has plenty of firepower, but we can’t engage and also close off all of the escape routes; if they bolt we’re going to lose most of them.”
“We just need to secure the priority targets,” said White Knight. “In fact, it’s not a bad idea to let some of the small ones get away. We might be able to track them back to something or someone important.”
“The WPPD will be moving in to support us and they can help round up anyone who escapes our net,” said Dr. Sterling.
“What about Cosmic Kid and me?” asked Camille.
“You two and Blue Star will enter through the main lobby after Seawolf and White Knight are in position to strike,” said Dr. Sterling, continuing to point at various positions on the holographic map. “Cosmic Kid will lock down the elevators here and here. He will also inform the hotel of the situation and get their cooperation. Camille will move to the main stairwell, go up to the third floor, and advance down this corridor. Blue Star will move into this interior stairwell and advance to the third floor here, at which point he can move to support either Camille or Seawolf and White Knight.”
“Whoa! I have to lock down the elevators and talk to the staff? That’s…well, that’s a waste of my abilities,” protested Cosmic Kid. “Just because I said we should have a warrant doesn’t mean I’m not ready to commit!” He threw an angry look at Blue Star; clearly the Kid blamed him for branding him as a conscientious objector.
“Every part of the mission is important,” said Blue Star in his best placating tone.
“Great, want to trade?” asked Cosmic Kid. “I’ll handle support and you deal with the elevators and hotel staff.”
“Maybe next time, Kid,” said Blue Star with a warning look.
“They probably have someone on sentry duty in the lobby,” added Camille.
“Yes, if they can be ID’d and secured that would give us a few more seconds before they know we are coming,” said Dr. Sterling.
“Hey… why don’t I just fly up and blast my way through the windows into the conference room?” Camille pointed at the map showing the outside wall of the third floor.
“We’re trying to minimize collateral damage on this mission,” said Dr. Sterling.
“Right, a walking tank and four high-powered supers charging in is how you minimize collateral damage?” asked Seawolf with a laugh.
“Yes, it is – so does everyone understand their part in the mission?” asked Dr. Sterling. There were nods, some reluctant, Cosmic Kid grumbled something under his breath, and then they divided up into their groups and waited for Basilica to reach the staging point, a parking lot a few blocks from the hotel. As the vehicle pulled to a stop, Blue Star exited with Camille and Cosmic Kid, and waited outside while Seawolf and White Knight started jogging down an alley to begin their approach on the hotel. Dr. Sterling remained inside Basilica to coordinate.
“Why isn’t Keystone with us?” asked Cosmic Kid as he paced back and forth barely containing his nervous energy.
“You always keep one super on the sidelines during a mission,” said Camille. “You know…in case we all get killed or something. Plus he’s probably still playing renegotiating games.”
“I thought he was only sitting out publicity stuff?” asked Cosmic Kid.
“So he says, but that sort of thing has a tendency to escalate,” said Camille, “Anyway, I suspect Annie didn’t push the point because she wanted you to take part – usually it’s the rookie who sits out something like this.”
“I’m not a rookie,” muttered Cosmic Kid.
“Rookies whine about their assignments, professionals just do what they’re told,” said Blue Star.
“I’m not whining,” said Cosmic Kid.
“Fooled me,” said Blue Star.
“Ignore him, Cosmic, Blue Star is too old to remember what’s it like to be the new kid,” said Camille. “Just be patient; you’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself.”
Cosmic Kid sighed but kept pacing. Camille started counting to herself, probably mentally reciting maneuvers or the steps in the plan, though Blue Star wasn’t sure – she could be counting the stitches in her costume. Supers were a superstitious and neurotic group. Everyone had their routines before a crisis. Blue Star knew he was no different. He had a dozen routines from how he checked his uniform to the power cadences he performed, like creating small snowflakes in quick succession. Right now he opted to just keep reviewing the map of the hotel downloaded into his HoloBerry. He hated waiting.
“Alright, time for you all to move in,” said Dr. Sterling over the headsets. Blue Star nodded and took to flight with Camille; Cosmic Kid began running on the ground after them.
Blue Star gained some altitude to get a better view of the Grand Colonial Hotel. It was a striking building, patterned on older style hotels from the turn of the 20th century though it had been built within the last decade. Most of West Pacific went for a modern look, so the more retro style of the Grand Colonial gave it faux elegance. There were a good number of lights on in the hotel though most of the rooms in the upper levels were dark. If they handled things well then most everyone could just sleep through the night without ever knowing about all the excitement on the third floor, but that was probably wishful thinking. He angled down towards the main entrance – it was time for action.
Blue Star landed in front of the revolving door and pushed his way into the main lobby followed by Camille and Cosmic Kid who must have really pushed himself to keep up with the two fliers. It was fairly quiet inside. Three men were spread out in comfy chairs: two working on portable computers and the third reading a book. A young woman sat behind the lobby desk. All of them looked up at the three entering superheroes. The young woman started adjusting her hair and flashed a welcoming smile, but the three men were scrambling – going for cell phones, or maybe weapons.
Camille reacted first and flew for one of the men. He didn’t have a chance to do anything before she grabbed him and his chair, lifted them over her head and hurled them at one of the other men who had just gotten out his cell phone. The crash was fantastic, resulting in a pile of men and furniture on the ground. The third man stood and started to run back into the hotel. Cosmic Kid sprinted forward, quickly overtook the man, and smashed into him, crashing into a wall and pedestal and in the process knocking over a potted plant, which smashed when it hit the ground.
“Damn it you two, we’re trying to minimize collateral damage!” snapped Blue Star.
“Hey, I just threw a chair – I could have melted them with an energy blast or two, so I think I’m showing a lot of restraint,” said Camille who looked practically giddy with excitement as she heaved the two whimpering men onto a couch.
“Good throw,” said Cosmic Kid.
“Thanks,” said Camille. “I liked the tackle, very East Coast.”
“Well, I’m pretty traditional when it comes–” started Cosmic Kid.
“Shut up you two! Kid, secure the lobby and Camille get going,” snapped Blue Star. He always hated that a lot of supers loved to chitchat during a crisis. Focus on the mission not the banter. Cosmic Kid headed for the front desk and the young woman whose eyes had gone wide in shock at their rather violent entry. Camille took off at a reckless speed up the staircase, which meant that if Blue Star didn’t get moving he would be the last one at the party upstairs.
In his rush to catch up, Blue Star overshot the third floor a little, but he recovered quickly enough that he doubted anyone noticed. He remembered how in his first year with the Paragons decades ago he had overshot the 39th floor by four floors and ended up barging into a Kaplan testing center instead of the lawyer’s office where a disgruntled client was holding people hostage. It had all ended okay, but he was teased about that by the rest of the Paragons for years. He was definitely not going to make a similar mistake today on his first real mission as a West Pacific Super.
His entry on the third floor was accompa
nied by the sound of gunfire, yelling, and all the signs of chaos and carnage. As he exited the staircase to the main hallway, a group of three men in suits ran in his direction. Two were visibly armed with pistols, but that didn’t really concern him. He created a snowstorm in the hallway to blind them, moved in, and then dispatched them with a few kicks and punches. Once they were on the ground he stopped the snowstorm. Just like a snow globe, the snow and ice stopped spinning and lazily dropped to the ground. Gunfire and yelling were still echoing from the direction of the conference room, but this area was secure, except for the three injured goons on the ground, two with broken bones, and one unconscious, probably with a concussion.
“Operations, what’s the situation? I hope ambulances are en route,” said Blue Star.
“Obviously,” said Dr. Sterling over the headset. “Seawolf and White Knight have hit the conference room, but are facing resistance from two mutants. Camille is moving up from the main stairwell, but has come under fire from a large group fleeing the scene. Cosmic Kid has the lobby secure.”
“Understood, continuing towards the conference room to engage hostile mutants,” said Blue Star. “What do we know about them?”
“Very little at this point, but Seawolf and White Knight are not in control of the situation.”
“Understood. Have Cosmic Kid move up to assist Camille; we might need everyone if these mutants are really dangerous.” Blue Star turned the last corner before the hallway in front of the conference center and the super brawl.
The area outside the conference room looked like a warzone. There were holes in the walls from bullets, pictures and furniture smashed, and people lying about in various states of injury. White Knight was nowhere to be seen, but Seawolf was fighting a mutant… or ghost. It was human-shaped, but defused and transparent and it was literally flying around Seawolf, who was delivering a whirlwind of claw attacks against thin air and looked winded from the futile effort.
“Hey, why don’t you pick on someone else for a while,” called Blue Star. The intangible mutant flew towards Blue Star who plummeted the temperature around him in the hopes that the cold might cause the mutant to coalesce or at least slow down.
“Watch out!” yelled Seawolf.
Blue Star braced himself, but wasn’t prepared for the intangible mutant to fly through his body and then become solid behind him. By the time he turned to see the wiry man standing behind him, the mutant drove his fist several times into Blue Star’s back and then dropped and did a sweep kick knocking Blue Star to the ground. Before Blue Star could hit back, the mutant had gone intangible again and was flying around the hallway.
“He’s fast,” grunted Seawolf as she ran forward and gave Blue Star a hand up. They both watched the ghostly mutant circle about and then land at the end of the hall. He quickly solidified, picked up a pistol lying on the ground and started shooting at the two supers. Blue Star dove for cover, but not before his leg got hit by a bullet. Seawolf drew and threw a knife, grazing the mutant right as he went intangible again, dropping the pistol to the ground.
“We need to keep him intangible while we regroup,” said Blue Star, who looked at his leg and saw that the ultimesh had caught the bullet, though it likely had caused a massive bruise on his leg. “Where’s White Knight?”
“He took off after a few of the primary targets who fled with another mutant, a woman with gold skin and a black dress. White Knight hit her with live ammo and it didn’t do anything,” said Seawolf, who was watching the intangible mutant hover down the hallway.
“Great, so this one’s pinning us down so the others can escape or deal with White Knight without backup,” said Blue Star angrily.
“I can try to keep him busy while you get to White Knight,” offered Seawolf.
“No, you can’t do anything against him. I’ll distract him and wait for backup while you go support White Knight,” said Blue Star. While he could get to White Knight faster, he was worried Seawolf was going to be killed by the intangible. “Okay - straight ahead and contact Operations for directions!”
With that Blue Star created a snowstorm throughout the area, which Seawolf ran through to get towards White Knight. Blue Star kept up the storm, plunging the temperatures even lower when he suspected Seawolf was out of the area. There was no sign of the intangible.
“Man, and I forgot my snow saucer,” said Cosmic Kid jogging up.
“Where’s Camille?” asked Blue Star, relieved to see Cosmic Kid alive.
“She went through a window to head to the service alley where White Knight is fighting some big bad mutant,” said Cosmic Kid. “I’m here to support you.”
Blue Star stopped the storm. As things cleared, he could see the frost covering everything; there was a small layer of snow over the carpet. “We have an intangible mutant, who seems to have left the area.”
“Uh, an intangible – that sounds fun, but not a very hands-on fight, is it?” asked Cosmic Kid as he headed for the conference room. Blue Star followed, still looking around for the unseen mutant.
“Operations, what is the situation?” asked Blue Star.
“White Knight, Seawolf, and Camille are engaging a hostile mutant, but they now have the situation under control,” said Dr. Sterling. “WPPD and ambulances are en route.”
“Alright, we’re checking the conference room,” said Blue Star. “We’re still looking for—” At that there was a massive explosion outside the hotel that rocked the building and sent hundreds of car alarms blaring. “Operations, what was that!”
“Camille, she just blew up an SUV, nothing to worry about,” said Dr. Sterling nonchalantly.
“Minimizing collateral damage is the goal!” snapped Blue Star.
“It was a Honda,” said Dr. Sterling. “Don’t worry, it seems to have incapacitated the hostile mutant so everything’s under control.”
“You know, next time you could have Camille shut down the elevators and talk to the lobby staff,” suggested Cosmic Kid. “Though I did get asked out.”
“The receptionist, huh?” asked Blue Star.
“Yeah, but she’s in shock so it probably doesn’t count, does it?”
“Nope it doesn’t, though I did get Linda to agree to marry me a second time when she was suffering from a concussion.”
“How romantic, I don’t think that was in the movie about you.”
Blue Star flinched. “Kid, never mention that movie again – understand?”
“What movie would that be, Blue Star?” asked a voice from the far end of the conference room. There were a number of people lying about the room with Taser darts sticking to them and a few slumped across a table along the wall filled with snack food, but the voice was coming from a large television screen with a digitally distorted image.
“Mr. Darwin, I presume,” said Blue Star.
“Yes, yes, it is, I’m impressed that West Pacific Supers is back on its feet so quickly,” said Mr. Darwin. Blue Star realized that while the voice was male it was just as likely Mr. Darwin was female, it was a common but effective trick for female supers to add an extra layer to their secret identity.
“We aim to please,” said Blue Star.
“It appears you want to escalate our conflict,” said Mr. Darwin. “You lost two, almost three supers, at the Boardwalk and it can happen again. Or maybe family members, like a granddaughter intern, might have an accident.”
“Emily is your granddaughter?” Cosmic Kid asked Blue Star in surprise. “Wow, I’d never have guessed – she’s actually good-looking. She must get that from the other side of the family.”
Blue Star glared at Cosmic but didn’t respond. Mr. Darwin, however seemed annoyed, and his voice became angrier. “Stop your attacks on the Infinite Circle or there will be a war - and it won’t involve ratings but blood!”
“Good buffet,” said Cosmic Kid, putting some food on a plate. “You can threaten my dad too if you want, I mean why should only Blue Star’s family get threatened? Honestly, I feel insulted.”
>
“You don’t want a war with us, Mr. Darwin, because you will lose,” said Blue Star. “It would be best for all concerned if you either turned yourself in or cleared out of town, because we are closing in on you.”
“No, you’re not, I’m closing in on you,” said Mr. Darwin.
“Whatever, seriously, I’m not intimidated by an Italian-American eunuch with delusions of grandeur,” said Cosmic Kid.
“What are you talking about?” snapped Mr. Darwin.
“Aha! He’s not a eunuch or an Italian-American - that narrows down the search considerably!” said Cosmic Kid triumphantly. Blue Star realized the Kid was right in his approach; they weren’t going to learn anything substantial here but they could establish emotional control of the situation, which might cause Mr. Darwin to slip up.
“Damn it, I’m out $50, I was certain he was a eunuch, but I still contend he has an overbite – you can tell by how he slurs his Ss,” said Blue Star.
“I don’t know about an overbite,” said Cosmic Kid reflectively. “I think he might be Canadian, though. We’ll have to ask Camille to review the recording.”
“I also think he might have some sort of genital rash by the way he keeps shifting around in his seat,” said Blue Star.
“A Canadian with an overbite and a genital rash, that is kind of scary,” said Cosmic Kid.
“Fuck you both! I’m going to destroy West Pacific Supers! I’m going to ruin and kill all of you and the two of you assholes are going to beg me for mercy!” yelled Mr. Darwin.
“Really?” asked Blue Star. “Are you planning to teleconference us to death?”
“It is a leading cause of death to Canadians with—” started Cosmic Kid when the television screen went blank. Cosmic Kid sighed, “Mr. Darwin is unhinged.”
“We need to put the team and our families into protected status.” Blue Star headed over to the computer running the teleconference. “We need a technical team to analyze this computer for leads to his location, but I doubt they’ll find anything.”
“Yeah, but he’s angry which means we hurt him here,” said Cosmic Kid.
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide Page 18